4.5 The idea of power, 1971-1989

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From the course by The University of Melbourne

Contemporary India

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The University of Melbourne

Contemporary India

29 ratings

This course presents some important vignettes of a complex, highly diverse India that is also witnessing unprecedented changes since its formal independence in 1947 from Great Britain. The lectures revolve around social dimensions of change, the continuing influence of ancient texts on contemporary India, political democracy, economic transition from the state to the market, gender relations, India's economic globalisation and changing world view. While one of the objectives is to capture the multifaceted process of change, the course also critically examines some of the tensions inherent in these changes. For example, how does gender inequality play itself out in a changing Indian society, how do the modernist conceptions of art entailing market valuation challenge the more socio-centric values found in South India, what are the politics linguistic identities, and how might India address its myriad development challenges such as poverty and unemployment. No specific prior knowledge is required. However, it would be helpful if students are aware of the socio political dynamics at play in contemporary India and keep themselves abreast with current affairs and debates in the country to fully appreciate the various dimensions and contours if the subject matter in the course. This course is taught in English. View the MOOC promotional video here: http://tinyurl.com/hx8mhxb

From the lesson

India's foreign policy

As India's influence increases in the international system, understanding its foreign policy and its engagement with the rest of the world is critical for students of international relations. This section is designed as a comprehensive review of some of the key issues related to India's word view and its behaviour towards the external world. Apart from taking stock of contemporary thinking and policies of the country, the major thrust would be on India's relations with its neighbours and great powers, its nuclear weapons policy and the ideological foundations of its foreign policy after independence.

4.1 Why study India’s foreign policy?9:48

4.2 The seven phases of India foreign policy8:12

4.3 The limits of idealism7:08

4.4 The fractured years, 1962-19708:21

4.5 The idea of power, 1971-19895:54

4.6 The years of reflection, 1990-19988:32

4.7 Consolidation of U.S – India relations4:39

4.8 Back to the future, 2011-20147:31

Meet the Instructors

Anthony D'Costa
Professor
School of Social and Political Sciences

Welcome back.

We spoke earlier about the fractured years.

The years when India's weaknesses contributed

to a great deal of introspection and lead to policies that promised a new beginning.

The next phase that I'll talk about is the phase which I describe

as the Idea of Power, 1971 to 1989.

This was most dramatically illustrated by the rise of Indira Gandhi.

Indira Gandhi is an interesting and a very controversial figure in Indian politics.

But was perhaps the most formidable political leader of her generation.

She was also one of the world's first woman prime ministers.

And she was Nehru's daughter.

She had a slow start with having little

experience in the kind of political Machiavellian setup of the Congress party.

But soon enough, she was in command.

She was someone who centralised power, had an authoritarian streak,

but demonstrated great courage in the face of adversity.

It was in during this phase that India and

India's foreign policy began to recognise in reality the importance of power.

And it was in Indira Gandhi who exemplified that.

If you look at her Bangladesh policy, it's a textbook

case of how India was able to synergise with its strengths,

with its instruments of power from intelligence to the military,

to diplomacy in the pursuit of one goal, to ensure that Bangladesh was created.

That Bangladesh was created where East Pakistan stood.

Of course, there was an East Pakistani

freedom movement led by the Mukti Bahini and the great leader Sheikh Mujib.

But without India's aid assistance and diplomacy,

Bangladesh may have remained a Utopian goal for the Awami League.

It was Indira Gandhi and

her close advisors who were able to execute this great diplomacy.

Even though the United States had sent the seventh fleet and had

the regime of Nixon and Kissinger as his Secretary of State had,

were deeply against Indira Gandhi.

But Indira Gandhi had the support of the Soviet Union.

Not unflinching but had the support and

was able to dismember Pakistan, create a new state of Bangladesh.

Largely because of Pakistan's own hauls but it also

demonstrated to the world that India had arrived on the world's stage.

Not as an articulator of merely ideas but as,

as a country which could, through its power,

achieve clear goals, as was in the creation of Bangladesh.

India, under Indira Gandhi, again did something

against all odds and in the face of world opinion.

India tested nuclear weapons and

refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Again, in writing wide spread condemnation,

including sanctions from the United States and much of the West.

And India did not of course conduct test after that, but

it demonstrated that in Western and scientific technology.

To an extent where it could even as

what was seen as a weak third world country have its own atomic bombs.

During this phase, India also

annexed the state of Sikkim which had a protectorate like relationship but

which, where there's popular opinion in favour of that annexation.

Again, Indira Gandhi demonstrated realpolitik,

Machiavellian realpolitik with tremendous finesse.

Non-alignment had been the central pillar of India's foreign policy

through all these years, through good times and bad times.

But here again, Indira Gandhi did not have, enter into a

military alliance, but entered into a special relationship.

With the Soviet Union through the signing of the Industrial Treaty.

But domestically also

the semi-socialistic policies that have prevailed from '47 to,

to the, to the '70s were consolidated even further by the nationalisation of banks.

And to other, kind of, deeply socialist majors,

which in some ways really toppled the enterprise.

And the ability of Indian entrepreneurs to do well in what became a very

closed economy.

But this was Indira Gandhi, and Indira Gandhi's view of power,

which was completely different, you might say, from her own father's view of power.

Her father was driven by idealism and

was much more democratic than even his contemporaries in the congress party.

To a point that he even wrote

a newspaper article under a pseudonym suggesting that Nehru,

Nehru himself writing an article under the pseudonym warning the people that Nehru

has an authoritarian streak and he needs to be kept in check.

Indira Gandhi, however, did not just have an authoritarian streak.

She was an authoritarian person by temperament.

And she's ruled India through a greatly centralised political machinery.

She was India's own Iron Lady.

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